Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson (3) battles for a loose ball in the first quarter. The Denver Nuggets took on the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round Series at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

The Denver Post’s Benjamin Hochman and Bay Area News Group’s Marcus Thompson and Monte Poole offer their insights and commentary on Game 3 between the No. 3-seeded Denver Nuggets and the No. 6-seeded Golden State Warriors. Tipoff for the Denver Nuggets vs Golden State Warriors is 8:30 p.m. Friday at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, Calif.

(In my Uncle Leo voice) Hel-loooooooooooooooooooooooo! Here’s this week’s podcast, give it a listen! We break down LeBron James’ visit to Denver on Thursday for the Nuggets’ game against the Heat. Plus some other stuff…

Matt Moore and Travis Heath are two brilliant basketball minds, and I joined them for a Nuggets-y podcast with host Nate Timmons. We talked for a loooong time about basically every hot topic with the Nuggets. So instead of, like, doing work, listen to us.

With the NBA lockout in full force, I finally have some free time to experience things outside of the Nuggets beat. So, along with Ryan Casey of Denver Post Sports, I’ve created our new webisode series: “Tales From A Locked-Out Sportswriter.”

I, the locked-out sports writer, will do some crazy Colorado-y adventures, such as hiking in the mountains … taking a hot yoga class … or going to the DMV!!

CLEVELAND — I caught up with Nene on the way out of shootaround, and the big fella said he’s unsure if he’ll play tonight at Cleveland.

He has a right calf strain that kept him out of the previous game at the Pistons. He said he will work out on the court before the game and sees how he feels. He also said that he has had some sort of a stomach issue the past 48 hours, since eating some bad food.

Nene had a big game against Cleveland on Jan. 15 at Pepsi Center, where he scored 22 points in just 19 minutes during the blowout win.

And you thought Nene looked big and strong now … wait until you see him in 3D.

Tonight’s Nuggets-Lakers game will be on both ESPN and Altitude (I still love this story about Marlowe), but if you have certain carriers, you can watch the ESPN feed in 3D (Glasses not included. Actually, I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do about the glasses. Perhaps you still have your old pair from Rad Racer?)

Want proof? Check out Nuggets’ beat reporter Benjamin Hochman after the team’s shoot-around Saturday. He’d followed a group of Nuggets players down one corridor of the Pepsi Center hoping to grab a few minutes with Carmelo Anthony, but when he caught up to the group, he realized Anthony wasn’t among the players. They told him Carmelo was actually leaving the Pepsi Center through another exit, clear across the building.

After each Nuggets game, Benjamin Hochman will breakdown three hot topics of the night

*Nuggets guard J.R. Smith scored a team-high 28 and was 5-for-7 for 14 points after three quarters, when the game was in hand. He also finished with seven rebounds.

“He had a shooting run where I wish he’d still understand that there are still bad shots out there, but when he’s in that zone, it’s pretty impressive stuff,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “I’d enjoyed him more lately because of the other parts of his game – I hope he doesn’t revert back to trying to just be a 3-point shooter. I want him to continue to work on being a play-maker, defender and runner. And he rebounded well for us tonight. By far, it’s been his most committed and professional attitude for the past month.”

*Miami’s Dwyane Wade, who averages 25.1 per game, scored just 16 points. One would have thought he would have scored more with LeBron James out with injury, but Arron Afflalo and teammates did well against the all-star, who finished 7-for-19.

* Chauncey Billups tallied 13 assists, his most since Jan. 31 of 2010, when he had 11. In the past two seasons, Chauncey had 16 double-digit assists games, and Denver won 15 of those.

After each Nuggets game, Benjamin Hochman (new to Facebook!) will breakdown three hot topics of the night

* The Nuggets seemed to have a different attitude tonight, compared to the previous three games.
“I think we just went out there and tried to have as much fun as we could have, instead of focusing on trade talks, rumors, all of that,” Denver guard J.R. Smith said. “Once we started making the extra pass early, it started to become contagious. Guys started to rotate early on defense, too.”

* Not only was tonight’s 30 assists the most this season but it was also the most since March 7, 2010 (31). Four Nuggets had four assists or more.

* Denver also took advantage of vulnerable Phoenix team by playing aggressive defense. Phoenix shot a season low 36.8 percent from the field. Understandably so, the Nuggets are now 3-1 when holding an opponent under 40 percent.

LOS ANGELES – Hello from LAX, where I swear I’m sitting next to the inspiration for the John Candy character in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

Just got an e-mail from the NBA, announcing the “third returns” (?) for the NBA All-Star Game voting. Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony remains second in the Western Conference forward voting. Of course, it’s very possible that Melo will be traded to New Jersey (or, maybe New York) by the All-Star Game. If that would happen, Melo would (likely) have the fourth-most votes of Eastern Conference forwards, behind LeBron James, Kevin Garnett and Amare Stoudemire. At which point, the league would have to finagle a way to get this superstar on the all-star roster.

After each Nuggets game, Benjamin Hochman (new to Facebook!) will breakdown three hot topics of the night

* Ty Lawson’s second quarter injury hurt the Nuggets. He said after the game that his sprained left knee feels “weak,” but he seemed pretty confident that he could give it a go on Thursday against the Kings. But Lawson only logged nine minutes, going scoreless with just two assists. The Nuggets as a team had just 16.

* After the game, George Karl sort of criticized the team’s flow – or lack thereof. “We didn’t have enough flow or rhythm to how we were playing,” the coach said. “We have to figure out how to win a game – we don’t need just one great player,” in reference to Carmelo Anthony, who scored 31 points but took 26 shots.

* Credit the young Clippers for harnessing the flow of the game for most of the night. Very seldom did it seem like Denver controlled the game. The Clippers were sky-walking all night and they made their first four 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter to bury the visitors.

The Nuggets' Arron Afflalo is more than a shooting guard. He's also a terrific defensive player. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

After each Nuggets game, Benjamin Hochman (new to Facebook!) will breakdown three hot topics of the night

* The Nuggets got to the line – and kept Houston off the line – and that was huge. Denver made 19 more foul shots than their opponents – it was the third-biggest discrepancy in the Nuggets’ favor this season. Denver is 6-1 when making 30 or more free throws. For the night, the Nuggets were 34-for-40, while Houston was 15-for-21.

* Please recognize what a talented defender Arron Afflalo is. The guy rattled Kevin Martin, Houston’s top scorer. And now with Kenyon Martin back and maximizing his minutes, the Nuggets defense is the strongest it has been all season.

* Nuggets guard J.R. Smith was back to his old ways, shooting 1-for-8 from the field, including some eye-rolling jumpers.

TORONTO — There are a lot of notable fathers of historical luminaries – Joseph Jackson, Martin Luther King Sr., God. But how many of them carried around autograph pads with photocopied personal greetings?

During my zany trip to Toronto, I had a drink at Wayne Gretzky’s Restaurant with my friend Payal Doshi, who hosts ‘Inside the Purple Room’ on the website “Raptors Central.”

While there, we spotted this old-timey fellow, who was drifting from table to table, talking to random people. I wondered if he was like some Canadian curling legend. Or Gordon Lightfoot. Or just a guy who couldn’t find his car. Turns out, of course, it was Walter Gretzky, he who lit the lamp and gave us The Great One.

After each Nuggets game, Benjamin Hochman (new to Facebook!) will breakdown three hot topics of the night

* It was nice to see a little pride on the defensive end. Yes, it’s difficult to gauge how good the opponent was, since Portland was without Brandon Roy and Marcus Camby. But the Nuggets clamped down on the fellows out there on the court, keeping the Blazers to just 40 percent shooting.

* The Nuggets held the Blazers to just 77 points, a season-low for Nuggets opponents (coincidentally or not, the previous low was also by Portland – 83 in a Blazers win). The Nuggets are now 8-3 when keeping opponents to fewer than 100 points.

* Chris Andersen is not 100 percent after returning from those injuries, but he rebounded at a high level on Tuesday, grabbing 12 – including four offensive.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.